GET IT ON CLICKORLANDO.COM AND RIGHT HERE ON LOCAL 6. IT APPEARS GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS BACK ON PATROL. De LAND POLICE SAY THEY CONFRONTED ZIMMERMAN AFTER FINDING HIM GUARDING THIS GUN STORE RIGHT HERE. THE WHOLE EXCHANGE IS CAUGHT ON CAMERA, TOO. IT ALL HAPPENED OUTSIDE PAPINEAU PAT'S GUN STORE ON WOODLAND BOULEVARD. ERIC SANDOVAL IS THERE THIS EVENING. DID THEY ACTUALLY HIRE HIM TO GUARD THE PLACE? NO, THEY DIDN'T HIRE WITH ZIMMERMAN ACTUALLY. THE OWNER DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON UNTIL POLICE TALKED TO HIM. THIS IS THE SAME PLACE THAT OFFERED HIM A FREE GUN AFTER BEING ACQUITTED OF KILLING TRAYVON MARTIN LAST YEAR. NOW ZIMMERMAN IS TRYING TO HELP THE OWNER WITH SOMEONE BREAKING IN. POLICE NOTICED THE CAR OUTSIDE THE GUN STORE. HE TOLD POLICE HE WAS WATCHING THE PLACE AFTER A RECENT BURGLARY. DID PAT HIRE YOU TO WATCH THIS? YOU'RE JUST DOING IT AS A FRIEND? HE'S A FRIEND OF MINE. OKAY. OKAY. THE TWO De LAND OFFICERS CALLED AND LEFT A MESSAGE FOR OWNER, PAT JOHNSON, TO MAKE SURE HE KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING. ZIMMERMAN TRIED TO EXPLAIN HE KNEW THE OWNER. AFTER ALL, JOHNSON OFFERED HIM A FREE GUN AFTER HIS MURDER TRIAL LAST YEAR. I'M JUST SAYING IT'S ALL OVER THE PAPERS, HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ME. I HAD NO IDEA. I HAD NO IDEA. REALLY? IT'S A SHAME. ZIMMERMAN GAVE THE OFFICERS HIS NAME AND ADDRESS IN THE POLICE REPORT. AN ADDRESS THAT LEADS TO A MAILBOX AT THE U.P.S. STORE IN SANFORD. DID YOU SEE WHAT I SAID? I DON'T SEE ANY GEORGE ZIMMERMAN HERE. CONVINCED THERE'S NOTHING BAD HAPPENING, THE OFFICERS LET HIM STAY AT THE GUN STORE, PATROLLING FOR BURGLARS. BACK OUT HERE LIVE, THE OFFICERS TALKED WITH ZIMMERMAN FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES AND IT SOUNDED LIKE THEY WERE A LITTLE STARSTRUCK FOR A FEW MOMENTS. THEY LET ZIMMERMAN GET OUT OF HIS TRUCK AND ACTUALLY SHOW THEM PRINTS OF HIS AMERICAN FLAG PAINTING, OF COURSE THAT WE REPORTED ON LATE LAST YEAR. I DO REMEMBER THAT, ERIC. SO WAS THERE ANYTHING TECHNICALLY CRIMINAL ABOUT WHAT ZIMMERMAN WAS DOING AT THAT STORE? THERE WAS NOTHING TECHNICALLY CRIMINAL ABOUT WHAT ZIMMERMAN WAS DOING AT THE GUN STORE. IT WAS MORE OF A QUESTION WHETHER THE OWNER ACTUALLY WANTED HIM HERE. WE SPOKE EXCLUSIVELY TO THE STORE OWNER, AND YOU'LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IT AT 6:00. WE'RE WORKING TO GET THE

DeLAND, Fla. -

Although he's not a hired security officer, George Zimmerman has been "patrolling" outside a Volusia County gun shop after it was recently robbed, according to the store owner.

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Johnson said that Zimmerman, on his own accord, has been spotted outside the store since the robbery earlier this month. The thieves stole rifles worth up to $5,000 and two mini-bikes, according to Johnson.

"I didn't OK it. I didn't know about it. I didn't authorize it. I didn't pay for it," Johnson said. "He had just watched Facebook and the news and just took it upon himself to come up here and sit."

Johnson added that although he knows Zimmerman, he has not hired him as a security officer.

"I sent him a text message telling him not to come back to the store anymore," Johnson said.

DeLand police officers stopped to investigate why Zimmerman was parked in back of the store just after midnight on Sunday morning.

Video from the dash camera of the police cruiser shows a closer view of their exchange.

"Zimmerman informed me that he was sitting behind the business with the permission of the owner," the officer wrote in his incident report.

Johnson, who is running for mayor, said he believes politics are somehow behind the attention being given to Zimmerman's activities at his store.

"My campaign is pretty much over. But my intention was always just to try and make this a better and safer place to live," Johnson said. "This whole Zimmerman situation has nothing to do with my campaign."

Johnson said the police have also been out to the store at least three times for death threats since the Zimmerman report.

Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch leader, was acquitted of murder last summer in the death of Trayvon Martin.

Watch Local 6 News and stay with ClickOrlando.com for more on this story.

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